As some of you know, I'm organizing a "veteran's history" website of the Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The plan is to have a resource of articles, photos, and video entirely from veterans. Currently veterans from the US, UK, and Denmark have expressed interest (and I hope to reach out to veterans from other countries as well), many of which are friends of mine. My hope is to promote a site with as much national and ideological diversity as humanly possible. If anyone is interested, you can PM me or e-mail me.

It will be awhile before it's actually up and running. Hopefully it will be fully operational this July.

Hiya m8 how you doing? Sorry not been in touch, just been a bit busy with course work.Reference your veterans site, well I would be pleased to help you out with it, just let me know what your after, and I will try and help you out m8.

It's not so much "my" site as it is a cooperative project, which will hopefully become as inclusive, diverse, and dynamic as possible. This is about you guys, the soldiers and marines of all nations, I'm just trying to facillitate it. All I'm doing is trying to plant the seeds for discussion. The question isn't what I need, it's what you guys think needs to be told, heard, seen, or understood.

I'll need to find some people to be sensible and fair mods (I consider myself reasonably open minded, but sometimes impulsive, so I don't trust myself to do that). I'd like it to be an international discussion forum, not a international slagging match (of course, we will tolerate the occasional friendly jabs between nations ).

I like the concept. It's a good idea to get the facts down now while they're still fresh, even though technically some views may be incorrect due to the individuals' restricted view of the area of operations.

I agree that you'll need firm but fair moderation, and would suggest that you're too modest in your discounting of yourself as a moderator. On this site, you've shown yourself to be the epitome of calm in the face of aggression, yet are persisent in your views. Good traits.

The problem that you'll find is that you are inviting comments on live events. A discussion of lessons learned by allies can be viewed by hostile surfers and used to defeat those lessons. For the writing section, this is less of a problem as presumably the content could be submitted by e-mail and vetted by responsible (from a formal security point of view) moderators prior to publication.

A forum is a risk because posts can't be vetted/edited before they appear, so would require round-the clock moderation to ensure that sensitive material is removed quickly. You cannot be sure that the posters themselves are sufficiently security-aware to temper their input.

The major difference between AARSE and the type of site that you suggest is that many of AARSE's members are long retired or have no immediate knowledge of on-going actions, while your proposed site appears aimed at up-to-the-minute coverage. ARRSE's posts tend, therefore, not to be directly related to current operations. You may wish to adopt a condition that events may not be commented on until a minimum period of time has elapsed, though this probably would detract from the current intent of the site.

I like the concept. It's a good idea to get the facts down now while they're still fresh, even though technically some views may be incorrect due to the individuals' restricted view of the area of operations.

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I see what your saying, but what this largely stresses are personal experiences, which are hugely important, but also hugely ignored too often by politicians and journalists. One area of operations is of equal importance to another. Each small part of the puzzle is a part of the bigger picture.

putteesinmyhands said:

I agree that you'll need firm but fair moderation, and would suggest that you're too modest in your discounting of yourself as a moderator. On this site, you've shown yourself to be the epitome of calm in the face of aggression, yet are persisent in your views. Good traits.

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I discount myself also because of my lack of military experience. I don't feel comfortable having the position. I'm going to work on organizing and putting it together, but I think.

putteesinmyhands said:

The problem that you'll find is that you are inviting comments on live events. A discussion of lessons learned by allies can be viewed by hostile surfers and used to defeat those lessons. For the writing section, this is less of a problem as presumably the content could be submitted by e-mail and vetted by responsible (from a formal security point of view) moderators prior to publication.

A forum is a risk because posts can't be vetted/edited before they appear, so would require round-the clock moderation to ensure that sensitive material is removed quickly. You cannot be sure that the posters themselves are sufficiently security-aware to temper their input.

The major difference between AARSE and the type of site that you suggest is that many of AARSE's members are long retired or have no immediate knowledge of on-going actions, while your proposed site appears aimed at up-to-the-minute coverage. ARRSE's posts tend, therefore, not to be directly related to current operations. You may wish to adopt a condition that events may not be commented on until a minimum period of time has elapsed, though this probably would detract from the current intent of the site.

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I understand what your saying, and that has been considered. What I'm doing right now is setting up a small core group who is being selected based on experience and knowledge of the rules. I agree that OPSEC is a primary concern. However, I think it should be fine as long as they aren't posting grid maps of their base camp, or posting pictures and addresses of their interpreters. That time requirement you suggested might be a good idea. Thanks

Well, I've got new members signing up, but unfortunately the site's progress is non-existant. I hope I'll be able to get it before the end of winter, but I'm finding it difficult to find folks to help out with the technical aspects.